Present	R Holt - Chairman S Pardoe H Bayley D Evans M Hodgson A Hughes J Oliver P Roberts Alan McKie CW&C Lynn Riley CW&C Public, Mr C Fifield
	Apologies	Ralph Oultram CW&C

1 Public Matters

There were no public matters.

2 Minutes

Minutes of the meeting held on 7th March 2011 were accepted and signed

3 Matters arising

From previous 'Public Matters'
Councillor Hodgson reported that he had received a cheque for £1800 from the CW&C Councillors to support the funding of the work items as prioritised at the February meeting,

1) The bollards at Milton Rough
2) Posts and chains at the Parish Rooms
3) The Cheshire railings at the Hazel Pear
4) The 30mph roundels, at Acton Lane, Station Road and Milton Rough, a total of three off.
There was not sufficient funding to allow the installation of the 30mph roundels.

The painting of the signpost at the Hazel Pear had also been discussed and it was decided to approach Michael Leigh to include this work with the Cheshire railings and other work at the Parish Rooms. The approach was not successful and Mr Leigh had been asked to quote for the work. The figure was not within the budget available and was thus declined. However a letter is to be sent to Mr Leigh acknowledging his quotation. Action Clerk - Completed

The Clerk had written to the three CW&C Councillors expressing the thanks of the Council for their support in the above matters and also for their work since the formation of CW&C. The CW&C Councillors said how pleased they were to receive the letter and also said how much they had enjoyed working with Acton Bridge.

From previous 'Main Meeting'
a) SID's and Speed gun.

Speed monitoring equipment had been installed on Hill Top Road adjacent to the Parish Rooms. It was expected that the data will be provided to the Parish Council.

Councillor Hughes offered to chase up the information. Action Clr Hughes - Completed

A copy of the collated information and an assessment of the information had been received. The conclusions presented by the Police were very disappointing, in effect saying there is no problem and 80% of the traffic is not speeding. The Council contend that the information shows that a large number are over the speed limit with many in excess of 40mph. The Council also contended that the monitoring equipment had been wrongly sited and was not on the fastest stretches of the road.

The Council were of the opinion that the data collection should just be a start and that the speeding problem had to be followed up. The Council were to again contact PC Morrison and request a further meeting. Action Clr Hughes

b) A number of emails had been received from Network Rail concerning future work on the track and the on-going use of the entrance at the Hazel Pear. A copy of a letter to Village residents was also received. Network Rail are still investigating the widening of the entrance to their site adjacent to the Hazel Pear pub and the ownership of the land outside the pub but stated that they would try to carry out the work before April when large deliveries of ballast were expected.

CW&C Highways had been contacted regarding the use by Network Rail of the weight restricted roads. Mr M Jones had responded and had contacted Network Rail. He had suggested to Network Rail alternative routes, using the 'B' roads. Councillors reported that some heavy vehicles had been observed using the 'B' roads and perhaps the message was getting through. It was agreed to contact Network Rail and to thank them. Action Clerk

The over-crowding of the car park was raised and Clr Bayley will try and progress this through the user group contacts (Mr F Thompson). Clr Bayley reported that she had raised the issue and that there had been support, together with recognition of the similar problems at Hartford Station. It had been agreed that Acton Bridge would lead on liaison with London Midland and that evidence should be gathered of the use of the land at Acton Bridge, beyond the car park gates, of associated railway usage/off loading/vehicular activity. It was suggested an information flyer could be produced and circulated to current users to get information and support. Clr Bayley to supply information to Clr Pardoe for publishing in the Village website. Action Clr Bayley - Ongoing

The congestion and double parking were still evident.

The 'Car Park' sign added to London Midland list of work to be done and the information notice boards not working, it was noted that nothing had been done by London Midland as yet.

c) Item 10e) New notice board - Mr E Nagle to arrange for manufacture of a new board. The work is still awaited.

d) ABCA lease. The request for a cheque of £50 for payment to the Land Registry had been forwarded to Moss and Haslehurst to enable the move to completion. The lease is still awaited.

e) The Clerk had notified Zurich that their offer is accepted. Zurich had forwarded all information and now requested payment of the policy premium (see Item 6 Financial Matters).

f) The state of the gutters around the Village was raised. Clr Mc Kie offered to take the matter up with Highways Dept Action Clr Mc Kie - ongoing

g) Landlord of Hazel Pear pub - Punch Taverns have installed a temporary manager. There is sign outside the pub asking for interested people to get in touch.

4 Planning Applications

a) 3 Bancroft - Application for a conservatory. The Chairman had visited neighbours to check their response. There were no comments or objections. The Council also had no comments or objections.

b) 47 Cliff Road - Application for a conservatory. The Chairman had visited neighbours to check their response. There were no comments or objections. The Council also had no comments or objections.

5 Planning Decisions

None

6 Financial Matters

a) The list of Parish Council Assets, principally the Parish Rooms and facilities, together with their current valuation was discussed. It was agreed that the valuation as assessed last year should remain. The question arose as to the valuation of the property as insured by ABCA. It was agreed that this with be checked with ABCA. Action Clr Holt

Mr Fifield offered to review the valuation of the assets. This was greatly appreciated.

b) The statement of accounts for 2010 - 2011 were discussed and were approved to be signed.

c) The audit papers for submission to the internal auditor and subsequently to the Audit Commission were signed.

d) Cheque for membership of Cheshire Community Action was approved and authorised.

e) Cheque for Zurich Insurance was approved and authorised.

7 CWAC Ward Councillors

Clr Riley spoke of the changes that had taken place and hoped that the Parish Council had seen improvements in the services and that they have been easier to contact. She thought that Parish Councils would carry more responsibility in the next term and more so in the local control of finances.

Planning will also be a significant item and local plans would be vital.

On a personal note, Clr Riley said how much she had enjoyed representing Acton Bridge. She would be standing as a candidate in the Frodsham and Helsby Ward.

Clr Mc Kie endorsed Clr Riley's comments and thanked the Council for their work. He said the Council work hard and he hoped the all members would be standing for election. Clr Mc Kie will be standing in the new Weaverham and Cuddington Ward.

The Chairman repeated the thanks that had been expressed in the letter to the three Councillors and wished them well for the future.

8 Reports from other meetings

a) Clrs Holt, Pardoe and Oliver had attended a presentation at Backford Hall on electronic consultation for planning applications. The scheme being that all planning applications would be dealt with electronically. It was also proposed that as many applications as possible should be submitted electronically.

The councillors expressed their disappointment at the manner and conduct of the meeting, it being disjointed and rambling. The intention had been to start in April. Parish Councils would be given a password to access the system.

The main concern for Parish Councils was the lack of facilities to carry out proper consultation at a Parish Council meeting. None of the small councils had any of the electronic apparatus necessary to display plans. While some councillors have laptops and computers this was by no means universal so that pre-meeting assessment of plans would be a problem.

Clr Riley explained that she was one of the people instrumental in pushing the scheme. The cost of printing and posting plans was prohibitive. There has been some postponement of the April commencement date but it will go ahead. Parish Councils will be sent emails as notification when a plan for their area is received. CW&C will still send letters to adjacent properties to applicants to advise them that a planning application affecting them has been received.

The Council members highlighted the problems that the scheme would bring, particularly for small parishes; there is no broadband to the Parish Rooms, there are no computer facilities, to display the plans for all to see will need a projector and possibly a screen. The Parish Council did not have money for the equipment.

It was mentioned, that when considering the number of plans that the Parish Council needed to see, it would be cheaper for the Parish Council to pay the postage to receive the plans.

b) Weaverham & Acton Bridge Trust.

Clr Pardoe reported on a meeting held on 17th March.
a) There had been a request for a change to the Trust constitution to enable support to other bodies not previously included but this had been turned down by the Charity Commission.
b) The Trust had considered three requests for financial assistance. One to support a pupil to take part in a school trip had been granted. Two other applications, repair to a fence and funding for a street party, were deemed not to be within the scope of the Trust and were refused.

9 Correspondence

CW&C - letter re 'Electronic Consultation for Planning Applications'
CW&C - letter re' Future of your area - have your say'
CW&C Spotlight leaflet issues 25 & 26
CW&C - letter 'Promoting responsible dog ownership'
CW&C - Partnership West Newsletter No 26
CW&C Members Briefings, issues 189 to 200 inclusive
CHALC -. Minutes of meeting 3rd March 2011 & APB for Northwich Rural North
Cheshire & Wirral Partnership. NHS Newsletter No. 11
Network Rail - track improvement letter plus dates of work and deliveries
CW&C Mark Jones email re Network Rail access
Voluntary Action Vale Royal - letter re payroll service
Cheshire Community Action - letter re subscription for 2011/2012.

10 Village Matters

a) Clr Evans reported that he had painted the seat on Acton Hill and would also paint the one around the tree at the corner of Cliff Road.
b) Clr Hughes said that there had been a notice on the web that the Woodland Trust were to consult on the management of Hazel Pear Wood on the 8th April. The site is Woodlandtrust.org.uk.
c) Clr Pardoe and Bayley mentioned items notified on the Homewatch site, break-ins to out-buildings and a prowler has been about in Aston.
d) Clr Evans said that there appears to be hedge planting alongside the Cheshire railings at the junction with the A49. It was agreed to check this with the CW&C Highways. Action Clerk

11 Any other business

It was stated that the 'Awards for all' scheme, funded by the Lottery, enabled Parish Councils to claim for grants towards projects.

Date of next meeting

The next meeting will be on Monday 9th May 2011, at 7-30pm, subject to the Parish Room being available. Post meeting the date was moved to Wednesday 11th May.